Technical Field
The present invention concerns a transport vehicle for handling a rotor blade mold for the production of a rotor blade of a wind power installation. The invention further concerns a handling apparatus which includes such a transport vehicle. Furthermore the invention concerns a process for the production of a rotor blade of a wind power installation.
Description of the Related Art
Wind power installations are generally known and usually require at least one and usually three rotor blades which are to be driven by the wind. Modern wind power installations like for example the one shown in FIG. 1 can have a nominal power of several megawatts and require suitably large rotor blades for that purpose. Such rotor blades can nowadays already be of lengths of about 50 m and more. In that respect such a rotor blade is frequently made, at least in a large portion thereof, from glass fiber-reinforced plastic or similar material. A common possible form of production involves making the rotor blade or the rotor blade portion from two shell portions. The two shell portions are first produced substantially separately and are then fitted together. The production of such shell portions involves using a rotor blade mold which in particular predetermines the shape of the rotor blade to be produced or the corresponding portion thereof. In this case for example fiber mats can be placed in position, which are then impregnated with a suitable resin. Impregnation of the resin can for example be carried out in such a way that the fiber mat is closely enclosed in an air-tight space and then the corresponding resin is fed into that air-tight space by means of reduced pressure, in most cases similar to a vacuum, that is to say it is sucked thereinto.
Such rotor blade molds are accordingly of sizes on the order of magnitude of the rotor blade to be produced or the rotor portion to be produced and accordingly for example can be about 50 m in length and about 5 m in width. At the latest if, in that respect two separately produced shell portions have to be fitted together, at least one of the rotor blade molds has to be moved in the production factory in which rotor blade production takes place. For optimization of working procedures in such a factory it may be advantageous for different working steps to be performed at different stations. That requires further movements of the rotor blade molds in the factory.
Moving large and also unwieldy loads in industrial production plants is basically known. By way of example suitably large and powerful lifting trucks which are generally adapted to the specific situation of use are used for that purpose, which can travel on a flat smooth surface of the floor of the factory. Such lifting trucks can then move with the application of a comparatively small amount of energy, due to a very flat and horizontal configuration of such a factory floor, with a high degree of precision.
It is precisely in relation to unwieldy objects like such a long rotor blade mold, however, that displacement is difficult and caution is required to ensure that the rotor blade mold does not knock by mistake against an article in the factory when being moved. In addition the connection of such a lifting truck also presupposes a suitable quality in respect of the factory floor and meticulous cleaning of the factory floor to ensure the travel operation of the lifting truck.
Such previously known solutions are therefore complicated and expensive and in operation require personnel with a great deal of experience and a high level of attentiveness.